I’ve often thought that one simple way to give American’s a better understanding of the world would be through “footie”. A Secretary of State that promotes, is devoted to, and evangalizes our Sunday football watching, March Madness afflicted, hot dog eating baseball fans of the US to get more engaged with soccer. Having spent long hours in pubs with World Cup fans in NYC, and a few occasions to watch FIFA in Europe, I found myself getting a very different view of the world. It’s not all culture and detente of course, but the world seems a little smaller when your watching international countries compete with one another. You get a different perspective on their culture, people, personalities and “hot buttons” - the things that tip off conflict.
So I was interested to see this new book on: “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization“.
in Europe, South America, and elsewhere, soccer is not merely a
pastime but often an expression of the social, economic, political, and racial composition of the communities that host both the teams and their throngs of enthusiastic fans. New Republic editor Franklin Foer, a lifelong devotee of soccer dating from his own inept youth playing days to an adulthood of obsessive fandom, examines soccer’s role in various cultures as a means of examining the reach of globalization.
I’ll peruse it and let you know if it’s a worthy read.
Til then, with Beckhamania hitting the coast, soccer fans eyeballing Becks as the second coming of Pele, while others are loathing the thought of more Posh tabloid fodder…
I have to ask: Is Beckham (for US soccer): A blessing? OR A bit bloated?
(cast your vote in the sidebar)
4 responses so far ↓
1 Beckham > Me // Jul 26, 2007 at 11:50 am
Beckahms arrival in the US is def. a bit bloated. Yes, he will raise soccer ratings for a short while but then what? The US was never fully involved with the sport of soccer as the rest of the country is and my opinion is, no matter who or what team comes over the end result will be the same, WNBA overtaking soccer on its primed ESPN 2 slot. A good example would be to introduce Reggie Bush to Europe and expect football to take off at an enormus rate and/or produce something that was never really there. As good looking as Becham is, the sport of soccer in the US will always be realted to highschool/college and the world cup.
2 Dino // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I think it’s a bit of both: there’ll be buzz and then it will fizzle, like everything that makes the cover of the celebrity tabloids in the US.
But I do think that there may be more grassroots support and awareness for the beautiful game than there was in the 70’s, when the original soccer-mania craze swept the United States. This time around, I don’t think we’re as reliant on mass media to keep the flame burning :)
3 Stephen Ryan // Jul 26, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Becks decision raised many an eyebrow across the football world. There had been rumors of him being a has-been, but his recent performance in Europe says otherwise. He is old and will finish his football career with the Galaxy. This is big for MLS - take a look at the number of sell-out stadiums everytime LA play around the country - season tickets sales have increased as a result. No one team would have been able to afford him - it’s a good move for MLS. Just go to any of the thousands of soccer complexes any weekend and see how many kids are playing. More are playing/activley participating, perhaps not watching as much as the big three sports. Becks and Posh’s arrival has absolutely raised the soccer profile, status and interest in soccer - did you see the game against Chelsea last week and the amount of pregame air time devoted to it - inlcuding the red carpet celebrity list? Soccer interest is very different from the Pele era. We now have second and third generation soccer players. Posh and Becks will raise the profile of soccer and make people tune in. Sex sells - what a couple - check out this month’s W magazine.
4 John Sanchez // Jul 31, 2007 at 1:40 pm
This book should be an interesting read. I actually took a class at UT called “Global Politics of Soccer” and I remember my professor referencing this book a few times. Let me know what you think of it!
Since soccer is the most popular global sport, it is one of the most effective means to study cross cultural relationships. Examples can be seen with racism in Europe, corruption in Africa, the recent conflict between Chile and Argentina in the U-20 World Cup, and Iraq’s recent crowing in the Asia Cup.
In response to Beckham, I think he has brought some foreign attention to U.S. soccer. Soccer has just begun to peak, and its the kids who are playing now who will become the future fan base for the sport. I don’t think it will ever compete with football, but with the shift in basketball and baseball to foreign athletes, soccer should gain more attention.
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